Pacific Coast Highway

In the world of smooth jazz can be found great performers and composers, cult DJs and sometimes people who just write about the stuff. However there is one guy who, as well as being knowledgeable in the extreme and a competent and influential DJ, has also got an undeniable talent for the unsung skill of album compilation. This person is Jazz FM DJ Steve Quirk and The Secret Garden bases this judgement on the major involvement that he has had with two very special projects. The first of these is the final chapter of a body of work that regular readers of The Secret Garden have come to know as an influential contribution to the growth of fusion and smooth jazz music in the UK. This of course is the series of CD’s by Beechwood titled JazzFusions. Volumes 1, 2, and 3 have already been featured on these pages and the definite best of the series, JazzFusions 4, is up and coming in the September issue. Steve had offered feedback on the previous JazzFusions releases and when the time for JazzFusions 4 came around he was handed the job of selecting the tracks. The result was memorable and it was no surprise that when, in 2000, Jazz FM records introduced a series of CD’s that were meant to go right to the heart of smooth jazz with tracks that were either hard to find, unreleased in the UK or that had been requested on the radio many times over, they turned to Steve Quirk to pull it together. The result of this endeavour is Pacific Coast Highway inviting you the listener, as the blurb says, to ‘take a journey to the heart of smooth jazz’. This is by no means the first excursion by Jazz FM records into the world of smooth jazz. Previous compilations such as Smooth Moods, Velvet, Smooth Moods 2 and The Soul Of Smooth Jazz volumes 1 have and 2 have all threatened to be great smooth jazz records without ever really succeeding. They have always fallen into the trap of veering too far toward ‘adult contemporary’ without fully finding a truly smooth jazz groove. Thankfully, with this latest release, the spot has been well and truly hit.    Pacific Coast Highway Pacific Coast Highway is not a small project. It is twenty-eight tracks on two CD’s of some of the smoothest cuts around. It lays the foundation for what is to come by featuring two versions of the title track PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) as the first track on each of the two CD’s. On CD2 the smooth Jeff Lorber option is utilised while on CD1 a funkier version by Marc Antoine can be found. Packed with great tracks from Al Jarreau, Brenda Russell, Stanley Clarke, Basia, Third Avenue, Dave McMurray, Avenue Blue, Club 1600 (featuring Maysa), Marc Antoine (not once but twice) and Roger Smith among others it is a real reviewers pleasure to pick out some of the personal favourites found therein. What to include and what to leave out, that is the question, but here goes anyway on this outstanding compilation. Starting with CD1 we find Van Morrison collaborator Candy Dulfer on track #3 with an excellent version of the Isley Brothers ‘For The Love Of You’. Secret Garden readers will remember the record as a Smooth Soul Survivor back in April of this year. This rendition by Dulfer is a memorable addition to the significant collection of choice covers of this all time smooth classic. Next up is ‘Ever Changing Times’ by Aretha Franklin and featuring Michael McDonald. Although some would ague that this is an out and out soul track it certainly makes for fabulous listening. Track #4, ’88 Ways To Love’ by Marcus Johnson could be held up to anyone new to smooth jazz as the definitive smooth jazz record. A truly memorable recording, it has every ingredient possible. An absolute knock out. Track #5 has Dave Koz on good form with ‘Cant Let You Go’. With just a little help from Luther Vandross this is vintage Koz. Trying to decide if track #9, ‘Miles Away’ by Basia is really smooth jazz is not straightforward. Chances are that it is not but the warmth that flows from it certainly makes it a ‘feel good’ track. More warmth and a feel good feeling follows with Paulinho Da Costa and ‘African Sunrise’. This time there is no doubt about the strong smooth jazz connections. Smooth jazz fans who just love TV cop shows could not fail to select track # 14, ‘The Theme From Hill Street Blues’ by Mike Post and featuring current Fourplay guitarist Larry Carlton. It brings CD1 to a close and as you move into CD2 take heed of the classic line from the show and ‘be careful out there’. The second disc lacks nothing in quality when compared to the first. Its good to be able to select a track from an up and coming British smooth jazz artist and here it is with guitarist Chris Standring and a measure of ‘Good Medicine’. This guy is treading the footsteps of Peter White and is certainly someone to look out for. Next comes an absolute flood of stand out tracks. Steve Quirk has a knack for latching on to ‘feel good’ sounds and here are some more. Light Of The World and the Latin laden ‘Blue Sky Day’ will make you feel good all over while track #5 brings top notch sax playing and a great groove from the ever-reliable Richard Elliot with ‘Moomba’. Before The Secret Garden heard track #6, ‘Saulsalito Calling’ by Carmelle Hinds it firmly believed that the greatest hot weather smooth groove ever just had to be ‘Summer Madness’ by Kool And The Gang. There is no doubt that this Hinds track takes this particular sound to a whole new level. As the song says, ’86 degrees, take it as you please, a certain kind of mellow’. Wonderful. Track #8 finds smooth jazz superstar Boney James with ‘Sweet Thing’. It’s well known to many and remains a truly great recording. ‘Highway One’ by Steve Oliver on track #9 is another major helping of top quality smooth jazz while a really great cover is featured on Track #11. We heard Tony Windle doing it with ‘Baby Be Mine’ and here we find Chuck Loeb doing more of the same with a brilliant reworking of a Rod Temperton composition that was previously handled by Michael Jackson. Its ‘Rock With You’ from Chucks album Listen and given the added bonus of Walter Beasley on sax it doesn’t get much better than this. Whereas many ‘overlong’ compilations start to run out of steam in the final few tracks Steve Quirk has managed to keep it tight on the closing stretch. The guitar of Patrick Yandall offers up the soothing ‘Nocturnal Maneuvers’, Count Basic gives us yet another Secret Garden Smooth Soul Survivor with the Frankie Beverley classic ‘Joy and Pain’ before Jimjam bring down the curtain with the super cool ‘Olio’. The second in this series of CD’s from Jazz FM is out this week. It’s titled Ocean Drive and given the quality of Pacific Coast Highway the new release has much to live up to. To find out if it does be sure to keep reading The Secret Garden.